Foolishly Foolish Fool
by HowObjectionable
Summary: Aged nine, budding defence attorney Miles Edgeworth moves to Germany due to unforeseen circumstances. There, he meets a young girl by the name of Franziska von Karma, who forces him to rethink exactly what it is he is doing. NOT FranxMiles. No pairings


**You know when you get something in your head and it won't go away? Yeah, this was one of these. Anyway, I quite like it. Have a read, tell me what you think, ja?**

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**Foolishly Foolish Fool**

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Miles Edgeworth wasn't scared. He had no reason to be scared whatsoever. However, Miles was extremely nervous. He'd never been to Germany before, and now here he was, here to live. Miles still didn't understand why exactly Manfred von Karma had invited him here to live, but he supposed he should be grateful. He _was _grateful. Just…nervous.

This house was big. A mansion really. Miles could hear Larry's voice in his head, saying something about how he'd finally found a house big enough to fit his ego. Not that Larry actually knew what 'ego' meant, it was a word Miles had once used and Larry had latched on to it.

Miles shook his head. Now was not the time to be thinking of Larry. It was ridiculous to keep pondering. He would never see them again. Neither of them.

He looked around the room again, glancing at the expensive décor with a little apprehension. Miles was not like other nine year old boys, he was not about to start a riot and make a mess for no logical reason, but even he felt anxious to move in a room like this.

How long had Miles been sitting here? Half an hour? An hour? Longer? It didn't really matter. He had no idea.

Miles knew very little about the von Karmas, but the cheerful maid who had led him to this room had told him that Mr von Karma had two daughters. The eldest, Klara, was fifteen years old and at a very prestigious finishing school for girls. Apparently, she was a disappointment to her father in the respect that she had never shown any inclination towards going anywhere near a courtroom. The youngest girl, Franziska, was only three years old, so couldn't possibly have such aspirations yet.

Miles had never had any siblings, so he wondered what it would be like living with two new girls, especially the younger one. He found his mind drifting again, back to a day when he had visited the home of his friend Larry with disastrous results.

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_The three boys, Miles and Phoenix aged nine and Larry, eight, had been left in the house with Larry's supposedly sleeping little cousin while his mother 'popped off to the shops for a few minutes'. It was about a minute after Mrs Butz had left that Emily, only two at the time, had woken up and burst into noisy tears._

_Larry insisted that he knew what he was doing and went to his cousin and began to pull silly faces. The child had promptly begun crying even louder. Miles had pointed this out, and Larry got annoyed, saying that if Miles was such an extrovert (they assumed he meant 'expert'), then he should quieten the girl down. _

_Needless to say, Miles did not much better than Larry did. At least he, unlike Larry, didn't make the little girl cry any louder._

_It was Phoenix that finally managed to calm little Emily down. Larry was, presumably, insulted by this. He sulked for five whole minutes before saying that Phoenix would end up being a dad first out of them all if he didn't watch out. "And then, Nick, the kid'll take over your life!" he complained. "You'll lose your job and end up poor because you have to look after it!"_

_Phoenix laughed, and Miles had told Larry how unlikely that was. Half an hour later, Mrs Butz came in to see the three boys in front of the television, arguing bitterly over whether or not this recent samurai thing would ever come to anything, and a two year old as asleep as she'd been left._

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He was pulled out of these thoughts a second or two later by a loud, clear voice asking him a question. He blinked and turned his head to see a very small girl in a blue dress with a matching bow in her matching hair. She was glaring at him in a way similar to that of the way Larry's mother often glared at Larry.

"Wie heissen Sie?" she demanded in a voice that was completely disproportionate to her cute little form.

Ah! German. Miles only knew the basics of the language that he had learned in school. "Er…um…ich heisse…ich heisse Miles. Miles Edgeworth." Hopefully, that meant his name was Miles Edgeworth.

The little girl, who Miles assumed was Franziska, narrowed her eyes. "Miles…Edgeworth?" she repeated. She then asked something else in German that he didn't understand.

"Er…ich verstehe nicht." He tried. Miles was almost certain that was him informing the little girl that he didn't understand. "Uh…sorry…"

Franziska blinked once. "Sorry?" she repeated. Then, in a voice just as strong and clear as the one she'd been using before, "English, ja?"

"Eh…yes." Miles replied. "Sorry."

The little girl approached him then. "I am Franziska von Karma." She greeted. "How you do?"

"You can speak English?" Miles asked, astonished.

"Von Karma is perfect." The child replied, in a voice as if she was talking to a foolhardy pre-schooler.

Just then, the door to the room opened and an older girl around fifteen walked in. "Franziska!" she said, then proceeded to rant on in German in a way Miles could only assume was a telling off. Then the girl noticed him. "Oh! Wie heissen Sie?" she asked him cheerfully.

"Miles Edgeworth." Franziska said.

"I…um, I don't…" Miles stammered, trying to remember what little he had learned at school and from…a certain man. "Ich spreche nur ein bißchen Deutsch"

The older girl blinked. "Das ist toll!" she said, applauding. "Well done, Miles Edgeworth!" Her English, though strongly accented, was perfect. "Oh dear, did Gertie leave you sitting in here alone? It is good that Franziska came across you, is it not?"

Miles was momentarily taken aback. "Um…yeah, I…"

"But you are just adorable, Miles! Look, Franziska, this is the boy who will be my new little brother!" she continued enthusiastically. "You do not mind my calling you by your name, do you?" she added. "My name is Klara von Karma."

"I…I don't mind. Um…nice to meet you…" Miles replied. At least, he thought, someone would be nice here…if a little strange.

"Little brother?" Franziska echoed. "Miles Edgeworth, you are little brother, ja?"

"I…um…actually, I think I'm nearly seven years older than you…" Miles told her.

"Miles, would you like me to show you to the room we have prepared for you?" Klara asked.

"Um, yes please."

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A few hours later, Miles sat a table surrounded by people he didn't know, but who he was almost certain were important. On his right sat Klara von Karma, and beside her, looking extremely dignified despite being in what amounted to a high chair, sat little Franziska.

"What is wrong, Miles?" Klara asked him. "Are you not hungry?"

"No, I…um…" Miles picked up his knife and fork and cut a little of the food. Klara, apparently satisfied, turned back to her own dinner.

After a few minutes of sitting in silence while the adults around him talked, Miles began to feel very uncomfortable. For goodness sake, even _Franziska _was contributing to the conversation. "Ah, um…where is Mr von Karma?" he asked suddenly.

There was silence for a moment as all eyes turned to the small boy. "Papa is busy." Klara told him after what seemed like hours. "He has a lot of work to do. Surely, papa tells me that you too wish to be a lawyer, Miles?"

"Yeah." Miles said; glad to have a subject that he understood. He could feel himself grinning. This was a subject he _enjoyed._ "Yes, I want to be a lawyer. I'm going to be the best defence attorney ever, just like…" here he faltered slightly "…like my father…"

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"_You want to be a what? You're crazy!" Larry told him as the three boys stood apart from where the others were kicking about a ball in the playground_

"_Be quiet, Larry. I think you'd be an ace attorney, Miles." Phoenix told him, grinning. "I mean, you were awesome in class. You must remember that, Larry."_

"_I remember." Larry agreed. "But wouldn't you rather be a spaceman or a fireman or a superhero or something?"_

"_Don't be ridiculous, Larry." Miles sighed._

"_I'm not! Tell him, Nick!"_

"_You kinda are, Larry."_

"_Who are you two, my mom? Well if you love him so much, Nick, why don't you marry him?"_

"_That doesn't even make sense." Phoenix said, frowning. "We can't both be your mother."_

"_Hey, guess what?" Miles said, suddenly remembering something. "My dad's finally agreed to let me go see a case! It's a big one, too. There's this prosecutor, and he hasn't lost a case ever. But that'll all change when he's up against my father..."_

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"Miles Edgeworth, you are a foolishly foolish fool." The little voice was as sharp as a whip, bringing Miles out of his reverie.

"Franziska, _bitte._" Klara said sharply.

"Foolish?" Miles asked. "How?"

No one replied.

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"Nimm Das, Miles Edgeworth." Franziska von Karma said as soon as she entered Miles' bedroom late that night. She pushed something into his hand.

Miles took the newspaper from the little girl. It was in English. "What's this for?" he asked.

"Read. See? Only foolish fools who are foolishly foolish are foolhardy enough to defend."

Miles refrained from suggesting the girl got herself a thesaurus – considering it was unlikely she could read yet - and instead looked at the front page. This paper was dated from six months ago. The headline read 'Yanni Yogi Acquitted'.

"Wh…why are you showing me this?!" Miles demanded.

"Fool." Franziska repeated, before turning around and leaving the room.

It was that night that Miles had the first nightmare. And it was the next morning he decided something.

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Once, a long time ago, Gregory Edgeworth told his only son Miles that being a defence attorney was about defending those who couldn't help themselves. However, less than a year later, Gregory was dead, and his murderer had gotten off scot free.

Being a defence attorney was nothing to do with defending the weak. Being a defence attorney was about getting murderers off the hook. And Miles wasn't prepared to do that.

That is why, aged just twenty four, Miles had a daunting reputation behind him as the 'Demon Prosecutor'. And why not? He had, after all, learned from the best. He had a perfect win record, excluding that one case in his first year of prosecuting where no verdict had – or would ever – be reached.

In fact, the victim this time was the defence attorney from that very case. The murderer – not the suspect, there was no such thing – was her sister, Maya. Even though this was pretty much an open and shut case, one lawyer had taken it up. This man was willing to defend the girl who had killed his teacher.

That man was just another defence attorney, just another bug to be squashed, just as Miles had been taught. Personal history should not and would not affect this case in any way. The 'foolishly foolish fool' that was the old Miles Edgeworth was dead.

Today, Phoenix Wright would be defeated, just like they all were, just as it should be.

**What did you think? Reviews?**


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